Samford has given me experiences and emotions of all sorts. Since I began my freshman year this past fall, I’ve felt it all: happiness, sadness, stress, excitement, frustration, anxiety, incredible joy, courage, worry, satisfaction, and the list goes on and on. However, there is one thing that I have yet to feel since I’ve made Samford my home. That one thing is boredom.

I can’t even count the number of times people have told me they wanted to attend a huge state school because many private schools were too small. “If there’s not a bazillion trillion thousand people there, there’s not enough people”, they say. “I’m sure there is absolutely nothing to do”, they say. Oh, if only the myths of misguidance that cripple our generation would vanish…

“They” say a lot of things. Don’t listen to “they.” They’ve never been to a school like Samford, so I am positively sure “they” wouldn’t know. Listen to me. You know I’ll give you my honest opinion. Trust me, I’m not getting paid for this. I wouldn’t spend all this time writing to you about how great Samford is if I didn’t truly believe every word I said.

So what exactly is there to do on campus? I don’t even know where to begin.

I’ll start off by saying that for your freshman year you will live in a building with a few hundred other students in the same situation as you. You’ll develop friendships with the people on your hall. It’s like having all your best friends live within three hundred feet of each other. At any given time, on any given day, during any given weather, in any given dorm, on any given floor, there will always be people looking for adventure. All you need to do is find them and go together.

As if that’s not enough, Samford prides itself on having a remarkable amount of on-campus activities. Many students’ biggest struggle is actually being too involved. As soon as you go through the gates, potential involvement hits you from every direction.

You will have the option to rush and possibly be in a sorority/fraternity that provides you with a number of awesome things to do and great people to do them with. Intramurals are happening year round. Just about any sport you can name has a home in campus recreation. If you are the relaxed, hipster type, bring your hammock to Eno Village and enjoy a beautiful day while you read a good book or catch up on some homework. If you are the sporty, athletic type, the basketball gyms and weight rooms stay open until midnight on weekdays and are free to all Samford students.

Samford is a very social place. Ben Brown Plaza will always present opportunites to chat (or goof off, if you’re like me) with your best friends and often meet new ones. Then, if you take just a couple steps over, you’ll reach the quad. This is the perfect place to throw the frisbee, have a picnic, get caught up in a mean game of quad golf, or do whatever else your heart desires. In addition, the multiple different ministries offer a great avenue to grow into a vibrant faith under the care of super-loving-awesome-relatable-funny-awesome-honest-wise mentors. Those folks are awesome. The list of activities goes on and on. I haven’t even mentioned the endless possibilities that the city of Birmingham offers.

Statistics say that we only remember 10% of what we read. This a little depressing, considering that most of what I’ve written will go to the dark, abyssal corners of your mind never to be thought of again. But, if I can tell you which 10% you should remember, it would be this last little bit.

If you’re afraid of Samford’s relatively small (but still not that small) size, don’t be. If you look forward to Samford’s close community, go talk to the kids who aren’t. Tell them I said there is no reason to worry. Tell them this school has more things to do than you could shake a stick at (and apologize if that doesn’t make sense). But most importantly, tell them this: Boredom is a choice. If you choose to make the most of your Samford Story, there will hardly be a dull moment.

p.s. – For whatever reason, if you find yourself with absolutely no options, come find me. Although it may result in you losing a friendly game of quad golf, we’ll have ourselves a darn good time.